One Night Only Lyrics - John Wesley Harding

He got shafted in Bradford for his out of date routines up there 

And the trouble he ran into Brighton was more than his share 

He's been running for thirty years, he would have settled down 

But each town he appears in puts a red nose on the clown 

You can buy the old showbills and frame them, they're nearly antiques 

You can trip up on his big clown shoes as you're starting to speak 

He squirts the flower, hurts your hand, it'll always catch you 

And his tears are etched so deep that they might just be tattooed 

The one man circus is coming to town 

Put the banners up, take your trousers down 

Paint on a smile, wipe off the frown 

Heaven knows he won't hurt us 

The loose, the lovely and the lonely 

One night only 

He said 'I played Chaplin for Hitler in March 44 

Been a black and white minstrel before that whole thing was outlawed 

And I've dragged it on every pier in every seaside town 

But there aren't any dances today, the pavilions have all been pulled down 

I came over straight after the war and they hijacked my name 

I waited for so many years but my wife never came 

I've been learning these lines every day since 1945 

And I'll recite them everyday I wished I was alive' 

The one man circus is coming to town 

Get the dogs out, tear the posters down 

Paint go home on the walls til he is elsewhere bound 

Don't you know he could hurt us 

The loose, the lovely and the lonely 

One night only 

He's tripping over backwards, taking off his clothes 

And no-one helps him, everyone knows 

We laugh at the misfortune of others 

Everytime the glass empties, the lions they all get set free 

On a town full of unsuspecting tourists who scream when they're happy 

And the scarecrow's on probation just for making faces in a mirror 

The past put a hand on his shoulder and drowned him in tears 

Now he ushers and watched the movies where children don't age 

And the dancing horse stole all the keys and took charge of the stage 

And the freaks are on the razzmatazz, they're all fuelled on coke and gin 

And the cast-out's on the street and we've already let him in 

The one man circus